Ren&eacute A. Guzman: Big gift (book) ideas for the Marvel fan

If you’re banging your head against the wall struggling for gift ideas for your favorite Marvel acolyte, grab some aspirin and head out for these three titanic tomes. (Hey, it wouldn’t be Marvel fanfare without some of that Stan Lee alliteration.)

“Spider-Man: The Icon” by Steve Saffel with foreword by Stan Lee (Titan Books, $49.95). Spider-Man slut that I am, I’m always on the lookout for a Spidey text that does the superhero justice. Consider justice served with this big Spidey bible. You get more than 300 pages of Spider-Man history broken down by decades, from his comic debut in the 1960s to his cinematic stride in the 2000s, all chockablock with bombastic comic art and info and tons of merry Spidey merchandising. Truly an amazing work.

“The Marvel Vault” by Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson (Running Press, $49.95). Wow, this really is a museum in a box and it really is all sorts of nostalgic fun. You get tons of memorabilia, like Sub-Mariner sketches, Merry Marvel Marching Society goodies and more, plus colorful Marvel history that goes back to 1939. Compared to the much pricier (but still cool) “The Star Wars Vault,” “The Marvel Vault” is a bargain of a treasure trove.

“Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe” by Michael Mallory (Barnes & Noble, $24.98). Another fine Marvel history lesson, this big book from Barnes & Noble gives the goods on Spider-Man, the Hulk and more Marvel characters. Besides touching on some interesting goods (i.e. those 1966 Sub-Mariner cartoons), it also addresses some of Marvel’s missteps with their characters (i.e. that putrid Fantastic Four flick that was never released). Fun stuff for a great price.